


The sun descends in the garden

by Anasasa



Category: Flight Rising
Genre: Gen, Sornieth Zodiac Event
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 04:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20651129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anasasa/pseuds/Anasasa
Summary: This has got to be the longest thing I've written in YEARS.





	1. Chapter 1

It all started with the music.

Delicate notes plucked with skill from a harp, and the song accompanying it just as lovely. It seemed to drift through the gardens and even echo in the caverns below, as if making sure everyone heard it. The music said: _Entertain me_. And where the notes rang, chaos erupted.

Well, actually, it started with a snapper taking a walk the day before. Not the full-on insanity and violence and such, but where it first took root in the Dryad's Grove.

It started with [Xii](http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=31748&tab=dragon&did=49357574) patrolling the perimeter of the Dryad's Grove in the middle of the gardens, as was her evening routine. Part of that routine was stopping at the top of the waterfall that marked the western edge of the grove where, when the weather was clear, you could see over the lip of the valley and into the flatlands beyond. Xii always spent long moments staring into the distance, hypnotized by the view despite seeing it daily. After a life spent in the Gladekeeper's domain, in the shade of her trees, all that empty space still boggled the snapper's mind. It was breath-taking, especially when the sunset twisted the colours and turned the white-blue sand pink and the green of the cacti the deepest blue.

This evening, however, another colour joined them. A green light flashed in the horizon, stabbing Xii's eyes and blinding her for a moment. Recoiling, she blinked to dissipate the after-images from her vision. Someone coughed behind her and she spun around, hands flying to her weapons. A dragon (or what looked like a dragon, Xii couldn't shake the feeling that something was off) was standing at the edge of the grove. She knew instantly, despite the lights still dancing in her eyes, that he was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. She also saw that he cast no shadow despite being careful not to stray from the direct light of the setting sun.

Xii stepped back. The stranger smiled and looked into her soul with those golden eyes and she knew nothing more than this: Next dawn would break over a very different place than it had that morning. [The Horizon-Light](http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=31748&tab=dragon&did=47697943) had arrived.

\---

What followed the next morning's sun as it climbed into the sky was nothing short of pure mayhem.

\---

The unrelenting sun of the Shifting Expanse beat on the Apotheosis Vivarium, making fountains and streams run dry, plants wilt, and the dryads retreat deep into their trees to escape the unbearable light.

Steadily, inevitably, it was sucking the life out of everything its light could reach.

The astral, Haloephere, sat on the back of [another imperial](http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=31748&tab=dragon&did=1284142) in the clearing torn into the middle of the Dryad's Grove, surrounded by "gifts" from its adoring public. It was dipping its feet in the streams of water running from the broken irrigation pipes feeding into a small pond that was forming in the hole a particularly large tree had left in the ground. Light bounced off the surface of the pond and glittered on the jewelry adorning the astral. The imperial serving as its throne was similarly adorned, but while Haloephere's hide was immaculate and polished to a sheen, hers was marked with oozing wounds where her gembond had used to cover it. The edges of the clearing were packed with dragons, all focusing their glassy gazes on the astral at the centre of it all. Even the ones that could barely stay upright paid no mind to their wounds in favour of giving Haloephere their undivided attention.

Court was in session.

The crowd parted and Xii entered dragging two dragons with her. They were thrown at Haloephere's feet, their heads pressed to the dirt. The wildclaw trembled under the weight of the foot on his neck, but the fae struggled, forcing Xii to restrain her with both hands.

"[Fonda](http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&tab=dragon&id=31748&did=30229502), [Hetira](http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=31748&tab=dragon&did=21561349)." Haloephere wasn't looking at them, but both of the captives could feel his attention on them heavier than the snapper holding them down. The two exchanged worried looks, and Hetira cursed silently in her head. She'd known they were well and truly fucked the moment she heard the warning horn, but she'd thought she still had time to finish the job and kill the shiny bastard before cavalry arrived. Turned out walls didn't mean shit to an enthralled and pissed off guardian who was frothing to save their slaver.

A long minute passed where the air stood still, until finally the astral turned its eyes to them, and Hetira couldn't help but think how sad he looked. "I thought we were all friends here," it said in a mournful tone and stood up to approach her. "I had no idea you hated me so much that you'd try to kill me". Xii released Hetira from the headlock she'd been wrestled into and she lifted herself up, hesitantly. It was a trick, she knew it, she'd seen too much of the sort of "entertainment" this thing preferred to think otherwise, but the eyes that held her own were filled with nothing but hurt confusion that made her cheeks burn with shame. She could distantly hear someone whimper. Haloephere took her face into his hands and his touch was soft and light, like she would break if handled too roughly.

"Shh, shh, it's alright, everyone here knows you would never really hurt us, not if you were in your right mind. It was the others, they made you do it, didn't they?" Hetira opened her mouth to reply, but the astral held a claw to her mouth. "Just nod if I'm right." Hetira felt her head bop up and down mechanically. "We know you still are our good, honest friend deep in your heart and we know you regret your actions so, so deeply it seizes the breath in your lungs." Haloephere let her face fall from his hands and Hetira fell along with it like a puppet with its strings cut, clutching her chest."To know that you betrayed your dear friends and the trust they put in you, it hurts you so badly you could **die** from it." A scream tried to claw its way out of her throat when the pain intensified and spread through her like a wildfire, but she could only gasp weakly and writhe in the dirt like the worm she was. Hetira thought she heard Fonda call her name, but the thought slipped from her head immediately.

Why had she wanted to hurt everyone so badly? How could she have even thought of it, when Haloephere had brought them such joy and light to make their dreary little lives a little more bearable? They'd all been so happy, and then Hetira and her fellow scum had cruelly and callously tried to ruin it all.

She hadn't noticed the tears flowing down her cheeks, before they were wiped away by gentle fingers. Through the haze she could see Haloephere kneeling at her side, head haloed by the rising sun. He leaned forward and the light grew more intense, beginning to almost burn her. She could do nothing but lie there in agony, squeezing her eyes shut to block out the accusing light, and wait for the killing blow she so richly deserved.

"But we love you," her god in gold said. In an instant, the pain was gone and Hetira slumped on the ground, limbs nerveless and tingling. "We know that given the chance, you'd do **anything** to prove how sorry you are and how loyal you can be, if you just tried. You want that, right? To show you didn't mean it?" Weak with relief, she could only twitch her head in assent. Haloephere smiled, wide and radiant, and told her what she must do to repent.

After a moment, she struggled to her feet. Fresh tears filled her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks, but she was sure they were tears of gratitude this time. With a nod from Haloephere, Xii lifted her foot from Fonda's neck and kicked him forward. The wildclaw tried to scramble away from Hetira as she advanced towards him, one jerking step at a time. "You don't really wanna do this, Hetira," Fonda said faintly, still backing away, but unable to tear his eyes from hers. Hetira didn't waver, her head filled with new, glorious purpose. Her lips curled into a smile. The crowd broke into joyous cacophony.

"Oh, but I do. So very, VERY badly."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has got to be the longest thing I've written in YEARS.


	2. Chapter 2

The outskirts of the Vivarium were covered in vegetation dense enough to block the sun's scorching rays, and it was there that the remains of the resistance had gathered. Their camp was set in a half-built pavilion, abandoned by its builders when the enchantment called them away, trampling and shoving each other to be the first one to serve the one who could make such beautiful music. Inside, an argument was in full swing.

"We can't just charge in! We have to bide our time and strike at the most opportune moment," [Goneril ](http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=31748&tab=dragon&did=4103262)said.

"Fuck biding, I'm going in right now," [Ashlultum](http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=31748&tab=dragon&did=3312213) said and turned to leave, but didn't get far before Goneril grabbed her, the guardian's expertly manicured claws tightening in a vice grip on the imperial's arm. "Oh, be **reasonable**. You're the only one that can reliably resist that thing's thrall and you want to go off on a suicide mission because the kitchen help might die?"

"Technically, Hetira doesn't work in the kitchen," [Tazhish](http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&tab=dragon&id=31748&did=21560940) interjected from the shadow of a fallen column, where he'd been staring at Hetira's cornet with dull eyes for the past however many hours it had been since their disastrous attempt on the astral's life. No one knew quite what to say to the fae mage that had probably just lost his sister for good, so a heavy silence descended on the group. It was finally shattered by Goneril who spoke with the urgency of someone backpedaling from the edge of a deep chasm. "Be that as it may, we do have to be smart about our resources to avoid unnecessary losses. We need a PLAN."

"Y'know, I'm still a little uncomfortable with being referred to as a 'resource'," [Voriksha](http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=31748&tab=dragon&did=24252583) said, striking a match on her horn to light her pipe.

Goneril closed her eyes as if silently praying to whichever deity was listening for patience. "_It's a figure of speech_."

In response, Voriksha blew a smoke ring into her face. "Figure-shmigure. You still got a worrying tendency to treat others like expendable-"

"We don't have TIME for your lectures on the ethics of 'profit-based thinking'-"

"If we can't kill it, we can always try to trap it." The argument stopped in its tracks as everyone turned to listen to the new voice that had entered the discussion. [Seran](http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&tab=dragon&id=31748&did=36462111), who hadn't said much so far, rose from her seat on a crumbled wall. "I have…some expertise on hunting monsters, and isn't that what this Haloephere is, at the end of the day? No pun intended."

"Well, it sure isn't a dragon, I think we can all agree on that. Didn't need that message from the Imperator guy to puzzle that one out," Ashlultum said.

The snapper grabbed a piece of the fallen wall and began to scribble in the dust to illustrate her idea. "I can set the trap with Taz's help," she drew a rough sketch of a circle lined with runes, "but you others need to get the astral to it. Also, the spell has a hardwired time component that I don't have time to modify, which means we're going to have to do it at sundown." A sun low in the horizon was added above the circle.

"So, one of the times when this thing's supposedly at its strongest?" Ashlultum said.

"Yes," Seran said, cringing and shrugging apologetically.

"Great! And this is not a suicide plan how? It still has pretty much everyone wrapped around its little finger and ready to throw down their lives to protect it."

"I still have my stash of high-grade snooze gas. Pretty sure I could repurpose the irrigation system to pump it out across the gardens," [Hadewych](http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=31748&tab=dragon&did=16370352) piped up from where he was laying on a patch of grass with his eyes closed. Voriksha inhaled sharply and almost dropped her pipe from the violent coughing fit that overtook her. All voices fell silent, while everyone tried to process this piece of information that was just dropped into their laps like a ticking bomb by this absolute madman.

It was Tazhish who broke the silence this time. "You what?"

"…Why do you have that," Ashlultum asked, her voice sounding strained as if from great effort not to yell. Voriksha, still gasping for air, put a hand on Ashlultum's shoulder in a silent bid for the imperial not to fly off the handle.

"In case of EMERGENCY, which I think this situation qualifies as!" Hadewych snapped back, just a touch defensively.

"What kind of emergency did you think was gonna happen that you had to hoard enough sleep gas to knock out the WHOLE CLAN?!" Hadewych pulled his goggles down and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "alien brain parasites". Before anyone could dig into THAT can of juicy worms, Goneril ploughed onward. "That does have the added benefit of us being able to just throw the astral into the trap, if we manage to get it with the gas." She paused for a moment, tapping her chin. "Okay, I think we have the bare bones of a plan. Let's brainstorm."

\---

Evening sun cast a scattered blanket of shadows on Ashlultum as she kept an eye on the congregation in the Dryad's Grove from her vantage point in the thick underbrush. Her face was covered by a gas mask and she lay perfectly still, waiting. If all was still going according to plan things should start heating up, or rather, simmering down any second now. The water flowing from the busted pipes had trickled to a stop some time ago, meaning (hopefully) that Hadewych had made it to the main valve, but there were no further signs that the ridgeback had managed to complete the rest of his part in the plan. Ashlultum was starting to get ichy.

Then, something like a collective sigh passed through the crowd. A fae flapped their wings erratically and fell down into a heap. Another keeled over where they were standing, their newest gift for the astral falling from their slack fingers. Before long, even the largest of imps were falling like felled trees to join the smaller dragons already in deep slumber. The only one who didn't seem sleepy at all was Haloephere, who flicked his eyes from one fallen follower to another in increasing panic, but still standing.

Ashlultum emerged from her hiding place and stepped into the clearing. Haloephere's eyes immediately locked with hers, but it couldn't find purchase in her mind. Instead it just stared at her, eyes wide. Ashlultum stared back.

"You…you killed them all!" Its voice seemed genuinely shocked.

"Don't worry, they're just knocked out." She cracked her knuckles. "You, on the other hand, I'm gonna kill for real."

That finally broke Haloephere out of its stupor. It shot out a brilliant flash of light that forced Ashlultum to cover her eyes, before vanishing into the trees. Ashlultum started after it, secure in the knowledge that her quarry couldn't escape. The sides were covered on either side by Voriksha and Goneril, who would put up walls of rock and shadow to make sure the astral ended up exactly where they wanted, no matter which way it tried to run. It was just a matter of time.

\---

The few lingering rays of the setting sun hit Ashlultum's eyes. She was standing on the highest level of a terraced house, the criss-crossing support beams that made up the half-finished roof drawing a grid onto the floor and casting her face in shadow. The astral was just steps away from the doorway to the balcony, ready to bolt through into what it thought was freedom. Time was rapidly running out, but they were so close to finally ending this nightmare. Just a few steps and it would be over. She moved forward, and Haloephere moved back towards its doom with slow, careful motions, eyes trained on her. Then, with its foot almost on the doorsill, it stopped. It broke eye contact with her and stared at the faint lines around the door marking the boundary of the trap. Suddenly, it recoiled like a prey animal spotting the approaching predator and Ashlultum knew that the jig was up. Haloephere turned to run, but Ashlultum was already in motion, slamming into the astral and sending them both over the threshold into the last light of the day. A sound like a bell rang out as the trap snapped shut. The hall was empty and silent, and the only light was the faint glow of the magic runes lined on the wall. The sun had set on the astral's reign over Apotheosis Vivarium.

\---

Days later, sun filtered through the window in Goneril's study, where she was sat at her desk, her glamour up again now that the situation had settled down. From her window she could see figures moving down in the valley, cleaning up rubble and setting up shelter for the still sleeping dragons scattered through-out the premises. The effects of the gas had long since faded, but Seran and Tazhish, with help from the resident mages that were deemed trustworthy enough to not lose their heads upon waking up, had stretched a complex looking web of spells across the length of the valley that kept the rest firmly asleep. If she squinted, she could make out the tents that housed Hetira and Fonda (separate tents, for obvious reasons). They'd been recovered alongside the others that had been in Dryad's Grove when the gas hit, one in significantly worse condition than the other. She let her gaze slip past the swaths of destroyed property to the house that sat on its hillside perch, looking for all the world like it contained nothing much of interest.

So much work undone, so much progress lost, and none of it could be properly repaired until they were absolutely sure Haloephere's grip on the workforce was broken for good. Sighing, she went back to composing the letter in front of her. Once she was done, she was going to get her fastest couriers on the job. She was even prepared to light a fire under their asses and set the war toads after them to properly impress upon them the speed with which she wanted the letter delivered to the Analemma Dominions.

> To the esteemed clan Analemma,
> 
> As the head of operations at the Apotheosis Vivarium, I write to you to deliver the news that we have located and contained the Light astral called Haloephere, and ask for you to come and collect it as soon as possible. The wards of its prison hold yet, but it is very much a temporary measure and not a permanent solution, so it is our sincerest hope that you have by this point devised a more robust containment method for your astrals.
> 
> We are going to have to insist on some compensation for the damage to property and life as well as loss of revenue the astral has caused during its stay in the Vivarium, including but not limited to probable loss of the season's harvest and a large part of the other vegetation due to major interruption to the Vivarium's operation, loss of skilled labour to the "games" this astral conducted, and a complete halt to all business, as most of the residents are currently incapacitated for their own safety and will remain so until this is resolved. Further details on what has happened will be provided on-site to your people.
> 
> I must stress that the situation remains urgent and I beseech you to hurry, so we can put this mess behind us once and for all.
> 
> With utmost respect,
> 
> Awaiting your response,
> 
> Goneril
> 
> Leader of the Apotheosis Vivarium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Perfect is the worst enemy of good, and good is the worst enemy of done. At least this is done.

**Author's Note:**

> This has got to be the longest thing I've written in YEARS.


End file.
